Vaccine Pricing Discriminatory, Group Says

A watchdog group is urging a federal investigation of vaccine pricing polices of two large drugmakers.

A watchdog group is urging a federal investigation of vaccine pricing polices of two large drugmakers.

The two companies, according to Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, give discounts on some vaccines to physician healthcare groups -- as long as they buy all their vaccines from the same company.

In a letter to Richard Feinstein, director of the Federal Trade Commission's Bureau of Competition, the group said the pricing polices mean doctors are sometimes forced to put costs above the well-being of patients.

Patients assume their best medical interests are foremost when a doctor recommends a medication, the group said in the letter.

"Now it turns out that is not the case," the letter continued. "Instead, doctors are choosing some vaccines solely because they are paying less for them."

A spokesman for Sanofi Pasteur, one of the two companies named in the letters, said in a statement e-mailed to MedPage Today that the "contracts that we enter into with various buying groups and group purchasing organizations offer real value to those who choose to buy our vaccines, but customers are certainly able to purchase competitive vaccines, should they so choose."

The contracts "comply with all applicable laws, rules and regulations," the statement said.

A spokesperson for the other manufacturer -- Merck & Co. of Whitehouse Station, N.J. -- told MedPage Today in an e-mailed statement, "We work with our customers to negotiate contracts that help meet their needs; those negotiations are private and all individual contracts are confidential."

The company statement added that "the terms of the contracts are lawful, and we strongly disagree with any statement or implication suggesting otherwise."

A spokesman for Feinstein said the agency has received the request, but will not confirm that an investigation either will or will not take place. An announcement will only be made in the event an investigation finds wrongdoing or the agency comes to an agreement with the companies, the spokesperson said.

As an example of what it called "discriminatory and anti-competitive practices," the group cited contracts for Sanofi Pasteur's meningococcal vaccine Menactra, which prevent healthcare practices from buying the competing Menveo vaccine made by Novartis.

There is data that "suggests Menveo may provide adolescents with greater protection than Menactra," the group said. But because of the contracts, "a large number of physicians are barred from purchasing Menveo for their patients," the letter said.

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